Alec sat in his usual place, deeply sunk into the comfy leather couch. Next to him on the extended love seat were Simon and Isabelle, Jace and Clary, and little Max sitting cross legged on the floor in front of them, his face glued in a manga. Alec couldn't help but feel, along with his usual sense of self-loathing, a pang of jealously. He wanted someone to snuggle with on the love seat, or more simply put he wanted someone to at least understand him and take an interest in his life. There was max, whom Alec had always felt a unique closeness with, but Alec wanted someone to love. He felt like a background character, like one of those useless people who exist simply to fill space, like Gibby from ICarly.
As they sat and watched another boring True Blood re-run something rose up inside of Alec. He stood up, crossed the room and stood in front of the TV, clearing his throat. "Hey, get out of the way," Jace said, playfully tossing a handful of popcorn at Alec. "You know how much I simply adore these awkward sex scenes."
Shooting Jace a disgusted look, Alec continued to stand there uncomfortably until finally he blurted "I want to make a MySpace." Four jaws simultaneously dropped. Max didn't seem to have noticed the outburst. The instant he'd said it, he regretted it. Jace stood up, disentangling himself from Clary and began to pace the room. "Hmm. MySpace. MySpace. I know I've heard of it somewhere," he kept mumbling to himself. "Oh!" He stopped abruptly and dramatically snapped his fingers. "I heard that name in one of my Down World haunts a few years back. A group of vampires were discussing it," he shot a pointed look at Simon who didn't seem to notice. "At the time I had assumed it was some form of human mutilation-" He was interrupted by a small but authoritative cough. "MySpace is a social networking sight for teens to connect and chat," said Max with a matter of fact tone. Simon and Clary began to laugh hysterically, while Isabelle wore a look of bewilderment. "A social networking site! Why?" she exclaimed. "Alec you know as shadow hunters we have to keep a low profile! Why would you want to put yourself out there on the internet? Do you have a death wish?"
"No, Izzy. I just heard that it was a place for teens with angst and I thought-"
"You just thought," interrupted Simon. "I'm a moody gay teenager whose favorite hobby is hunting demons. Who has more angst than me? " At this everyone burst into laughter, even Isabelle who had remained decidedly resentful of the idea. After everyone had calmed down Max said "I say let him do it. I think it would make a most wonderful social experiment." Alec couldn't help but be proud of his younger brother's optimism. "Yes, and let little Alec post his feelings for the world to see! Heaven forbid he should bottle up his feelings." Jace said sarcastically. Alec walked dejectedly over to the leather chair and flopped down.
The next day, Alec woke bright and early. He was ready; he was finally going to do this. First he got in the creaky old elevator and rode up to the library. He figured he might as well handle this somewhere quiet and free of distraction. Once there, he plopped down on a chair next to the fireplace and grabbed one of the spare laptops lying around. The Institute kept up with modern technology only for the sake of appearances. No one really took much of an interest in mundane habits like surfing the web. They were shadow hunters after all, they didn't have time for such pointless activities. Once Alec had finally figured out how to get onto the internet the rest was pretty simple.
After a brief sign up process and the making of an email account, Alec was all set. When he looked at the generic page he knew he needed something to make it his own. He needed a unique layout. He sprang out of his chair and ran through the aisles of the Institute library. He must've looked top to bottom for a good ten minutes before he found it: "MySpace Layouts for Dummies".
He found the nearest table and threw the book down with unnecessary force and began to read. It was a lot less interesting than the title led on and more difficult as well. He found himself reminiscing to what started this whole MySpace obsession. It wasn't just to rant about inner angst. It was more of a way to meet guys. Though Alec was ashamed to admit it to himself, the only reason he wanted one was to get in touch with eligible guys in a way that Izzy couldn't go snooping around. Thank the angel for passwords! However, Alec's main interest was a certain immortal warlock by the user name BaneOfMyExistance.